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Thursday, 15 October 2009

Unsung Heros: The Hand Blender

There are many small things done in the kitchen to keep it producing food night after night. Mostly we don't talk about them. I clean, decant, store, freeze, reheat, mix powders, make lists. It's a labour of love that allows me to cook and eat fantastic food.

One of the most important is preserving garlic so I can make quick and tasty additions to curries, stir fries and everything. Every few months I'll buy a pack of three or so. This week Riverford obligingly sent us free garlic.

Then they get peeled and thrown in the mini food processor with a little water. They are frozen, scooped into usable portions, on a baking tray. I included a picture if you can't visualise it but it's not the best looking thing I've ever done.

The mini food processor is an alternative attachment on the end of my hand blender. Aside from making garlic pastes it can also chop a variety of things, make smoothies, smooth lumps in tomato sauce, whisk up pancake batter. It's an infinitely useful gadget, the most versatile thing in my kitchen.It's actually the first kitchen gadget I bought for myself as a treat after my first term at uni (after my first year I bought myself a chefs knife, it costs twice as much), although this one isn't the original as I upgraded to the sexy metal blender when we moved into the flat. It has near constant use and I wouldn't want to be without one.